Thursday, January 22, 2009

Radio Station Indie 103.1: Good Luck to You!

“Because of changes in the radio industry and the way radio audiences are measured, stations in this market are being forced to play too much Britney, Puffy and alternative music that is neither new nor cutting edge,” the station said in a statement on their Website and an audio blast that aired several times this morning. “Due to these challenges, Indie 103.1 was recently faced with only one option: to play the corporate radio game. We have decided not to play that game any longer. Rather than changing the sound, spirit and soul of what has made Indie 103.1 great Indie 103.1 will bid farewell to the terrestrial airwaves and take an alternative course.”

And that is the reason why I don't do mainstream radio. My musical tendencies are not featured in it the way I'd like them to be and nothing is as effective in engendering a bad mood as, well, bad music.

Radio has definitely shifted much from the days Everclear was inspired to write the song AM Radio. And with the web taking over, I find Indie 103.1's decision solid and laced with integrity. It is also sad. Indie 103.1 has served as an arena where a lot of good acts were discovered. It's helped Indie music a great deal, indeed. If the industry says you need to comply or else, very few places have it in them to say, 'uhm, I'll take 'else,' please, Alex."

And I, for one, will be supporting Indie 103.1. Not solely out of the kindness of my heart, however. Music is a serious business with me, after all. I will be checking them out because I know I can listen to the Kings of Leon, LCD Soundsystem, and Morrissey et al., and not be bothered with pseudo melodies.Best of luck to you, Indie 103.1. I will be listening.Read more here.

By overplaying all these vanilla, last-decade styled songs, the music industry is in effect buying their place in the Billboard top lists. They are buying their Grammy nods too. And a bunch of poor saps with bad taste buy this shit because they hear it all day long and think that it must be popular. Then they are left with a $16 disc that has one or two listenable songs and the rest is crap. At least that's how it used to work. I think the record industry is trying desperately to cling to this past economic model, but the internet has opened doors for people to discover good music on their own. That is why file-sharing is a boon, and why the record industry is so threatened by it: it means they have to find a new way to conduct their business, and they are curmudgeons.

"We have decided not to play that game any longer. Rather than changing the sound, spirit and soul of what has made Indie 103.1 great Indie 103.1 will bid farewell to the terrestrial airwaves and take an alternative course.Amen!Good luck to them!